00:00A bus terminal in Alastair, 1996. The cry of a baby pierces the day. A five-month-old
00:08girl is found under a bus, abandoned, malnourished, wrapped in a plastic bag.
00:16And on her head, scars. Signs she may have already known abuse before being
00:24dumped. Two families refused to take her in. The reason? She was HIV positive. A year
00:34later on December 1st, 1997, her story reached one couple, Dominic Damien and
00:40Jacinta Samuel. We heard about her through a radio show hosted by the Black
00:48Stallion, Radhakrishnan. I heard about her over the radio and quickly stopped the
00:54car and asked my wife, do we have place for one more special child? I told her,
01:01think about it, five minutes. It must be from the heart. And she said, yes.
01:06They had little money, but they had hope. And we went up to Penang, met the child and
01:16ironically, without anything, I happened to meet Amanda outside the wall. And she
01:24reached her hand out to me. So I carried her, not knowing who that was. And I asked, I'm
01:33here to see Amanda. Then they said, you're carrying her. So it was magical.
01:39They gave her the name Amanda May Chu. In Chinese, it means pretty pearl. And they believed Malaysia's
01:48promise that she would receive free medical care for life.
01:52For years, that promise held. Amanda grew. She laughed. She sang. Then, eight years ago, it ended.
02:06Her treatment was cut off. Now, her future hangs by a thread.
02:13In 2017, the end of December, she was falling ill. And we noticed there was a, she was having a very
02:21bad cough and flu. And she was just very poor. The health condition was very poor. So HKL admitted
02:29her immediately. And she was being treated. And when it came to payment of the bill, we were asked,
02:37we were, we always thought it was free. Suddenly, we were told we should pay for it. And we asked why.
02:44And they said, no, she's not a local. Today, Amanda is 29. She fights every day to stay alive.
02:53Her family fights to keep her from slipping away. And she's literally a bag of bones. If you see her
03:00and not a bit, her structure is bones. The flesh is totally gone. She needs very prompt, incisive,
03:08precise medical treatment, nothing else. Amanda was abandoned once. And while Malaysia promised she
03:17never would be again, that promise was broken. We feel very betrayed, very betrayed. It's like a dagger
03:27that's thrust into our soul. She was found in Malaysia. She's Chinese. She's,
03:36everything is there that says that she is this child. Even if she were to die someday from a natural
03:42cause, she must know that this was a nation that can for her, that bled for her, financially or otherwise.
03:51Yeah. But it is not too late. Her story is a call to all of us to care, to remember,
04:00and to keep her hope alive. Frankie D'Cruz and Danish Rajariza, FMT.
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